You ask, I'll answer set 16

Our Adoption Story...

It was fall of 2004, when I was watching an Oprah Winfrey Show that unveiled the inhumane stories that were taking place in South Africa. The show educated the public and myself of an epidemic where babies as young as 5 months are being raped. There is a myth being spread in Africa that if you have sex with a virgin you will then become cured from AIDS. Consequently children, infants were being robbed of their humanity.  This story broke me. My heart began to grieve for them and desire to give life to soul that had been lost.  I struggled with this for a month or so. Finally I broke down and told Carlos that I want to adopt. At this time I was thinking in our future, after our biological children were raised. Then we could adopt a child whose soul has been stripped from them and build them back to who God intended them to be. Carlos was 100% on board from day one.
        It was not but a month later Carlos and I were watching Oprah (again) and she did a special on orphanages in China.  This time Carlos was moved. He began talking about adopting a girl from China. We still were thinking that this was later in our future, not now. Shortly after these two shows Carlos had a dream that made him question why we were waiting to adopt. Why not now?  When he told me about the dream we talked about it and decided that we would look into the process. We have always wanted 4 children and we loved the idea of having our adopted child be right in the middle of our biological children. We decided to begin the process!
        Carlos and I have followed Steven Curtis Chapman and have seen his presentation on adoption, so we decided to start with his organization. We trusted in the agencies he was recommending. We started with his list and one by one the doors were closed. We didn’t know that there were so many requirements of the parents. We looked into Africa but at that time non of his agencies adopted from Africa.  We then looked into China but they had a requirement was that both parents had to be 30 and I was not 30 yet.
Those were our two countries that were on our heart, at that point we didn’t know where were going to adopt from. We only had one final agency to look into. We were feeling sad and defeated. Maybe our decision to adopt now was not right. Our final agency to look into was Holt International. We began to read their requirements and we matched perfectly with Korea. We matched their requirements and they matched ours.  Korea it was.
        We began the application and attended the first class. We were excited to learn that we would be adopting a boy. We just naturally thought we would be adopting a little girl just because we had 2 girls of our own, plus the two adoption stories on Oprah were based on girls. So it was an exciting shock to hear that Korea favors mixed gender families and that they would be place with a boy.
        The application took longer than we had expected. There were a few bumps in the process but finally things got well on our way. We were assigned to Losiah in July of 2006! Here is the post from Carlos' blog on the day we were assigned to him...

Losiah

Posted on 26 July 2006 Comments (44)
Tags: Family

So Heather and I have been waiting for our “assignment” to come from South Korea. Waiting for months to find out who will be joining our family. I am sitting in a Days Inn parking lot in Oakhurst, CA because we just got a phone call from our social worker that we have been assigned. PRAISE GOD!!! God is shining bright upon us right now. We are overjoyed.
Ragamuffins.
Meet MY SON…Baek Dae-Selok (Korean Name)
His new name will be Losiah. We are unsure as to which Korean names to incorporate. We will decide soon,

God is Good,
Los

The final months before we traveled to pick him up,  were filled with fund raisers, preparing, and lots and lots of stress!
        With the assurance God gave us about this decision, we also had  peace that he will also provide the means to pay for this child. From the beginning God knew our income and we have to believe that if he is leading us to this decision he will lead us in the financial aspect of this process too.  And he did. We had 61 cents in our savings when we entered into this decision and because of  our family and friends and a couple of grants we were able to pay for all the expenses that came our way.
We finally got the call to go pick up our boy in November. We did have a few more bits of drama before that wonderful call came. He was coming home!

I think you will be able to spend hours reading our story, if you don't have time for them all look at this post and watch these two, they are my favorite. If you have a day or two... start on Carlos' blog and go to November 2006 and enjoy. It is quite the story! 

Wow, that was a lot of info! Thanks for hanging on! I could go on and on. I would love to answer any questions you have so ask away. I also would love to hear your stories, if you are or think you are going to adopt lets make a carnival of this. If you are or thinking about adopting, tell us your story.

It's simple,
1. Write your story on your blog and link to this post in yours.
2. Come back here and enter our URL into Mr. Linky below.

I really look forward to seeing pictures and hearing your stories. H

Comments

[carie]

I balled like a baby the first time I watched those videos...don't know if I can take it again! lol. I have always wondered....do you send update photos or letters to the foster mom?

[Jen]

I have never posted here before. That's so cool. That same Oprah show was the one that touched us and we started talking about adopting. We brought home our son from Ethiopia in August of 2006. We used an agency that was on the approved list for Shaohannah's Hope also. We definitely want to do it again.

[Heather]

Wow, Heather. I just cried through every link you posted. I love your story.

[natalie]

One of the things I love most about this post, is I'm able to see all the influencers in the process. You saw a tv show, you saw it again, someone you looked up to was going through the process which gave you references to follow...I love it because you and Carlos did something amazing and out of this world for Losaih and God used ordinary everyday connections to reach you. He is so wonderful!

[Lita]

Heather,
Hubby and I just got a referal of a little boy in Russia!!!!

We are so excited and are pins and needles right now awaiting the results of his medical report.

I just wanted you to know that I wacthed the video of you and Carlos picking up Losiah and saying goodbye to his foster mother quite a few times, espeacially when adoption was getting a little overwhelming. Sometimes I felt God forgot about us. Your video gave us hope and reminded us that all will be Ok. Our time will come.

We are praying now that he is as healthy as his pictures looks.

You and Carlos are an awesome team and you have no idea how many people you have helped by posting those videos.

Thank you,
Lita
NJ

[Kelly M]

Ever since I started reading your blog, I've always had a question about his name.
Is it pronounced like
Los-ay-uh like Isaiah?
or Los-eye-uh with more of an "i" sound?

[whittakerwoman]

Los-eye-uh
:) H

[Charlotte]

Great post, and thanks for the story. One quick request -- please note that Africa is not a country!!! It's a continent with 53 countries:) Common mistake and I'm sure you know that, but it drives me wild:) Also, one of our sons and our daughter are adopted from Ethiopia - we loved reading your post!

[kerry-colored with memories]

OMG...that is the cutest baby picture...I can still see so much of that baby in him!

I've watched some of those videos, but I need to be working and will have to come back for more later...

Sorry if this ? has been answered elsewhere, but what part of his Korean name did y'all keep...also...all of your children's names are beautiful...do they have special meanings?

[debra parker]

I linked to a post I wrote a while back about how our kids knew we were going to adopt Ronel from Haiti. It still stirs every emotion to think of their love for this boy, their brother.

[Kelly @ Love Well]

I threw a post into Mr. Linky, Heather. It's a post I wrote a few months back for the Compassion blog about my husband's adoption. (From Korea, BTW.)

As you might expect, international adoption remains near and dear to us. We hope to adopt someday; still praying about the right timing, the right country and the right number of adoptees. :-)

[debra parker]

I linked to a post I wrote a while back about how our kids knew we were going to adopt Ronel from Haiti. It still stirs every emotion to think of their love for this boy, their brother.

[Megan Mills]

Oh my goodness, I cannot WAIT to read the entire story. Here I sit, pregnant with our second, but also knowing God has adoption in our future. I just watched the Goodbye video. Wow. I am so thankful you recorded that moment. Oh, and I'm a friend of Sara Karlson who you might know- is a friend of Jacinda's- and through lots of blog snooping, have really been enjoying your blog. = )

[Jess]

I am so glad God had adoption in the plans for us too!!! He is SO good!!!

Someday I'll write out more details of our adoption story on our current blog. But for now, I thought the posts I did last week were a good start on sharing our story, so that's what I linked.

It was great to see you yesterday. Sorry I was a little distracted on the escalator (usually I am more friendly than that). It turns out we were having teething drama.

But seriously, it is SUCH a compliment for you to say my son is cute!! Coming from such a cool mom, who has the coolest, cutest set of siblings I've every seen, I am pretty happy you think mine is as adorable as I think he is!!

[Melissa]

We watched the same Oprah show, but with a slightly different perspective. Our first son had just arrived home from Korea, and I watched it in tears with him in my arms.

We are also one of the many who watched the travel videos and decided to travel for our daughter. We documented our journey on You Tube as well.

[daphne]

wow. confirmation for me. no idea what happens next but I am down for it.

[hollybird]

Our dossier is in Vietnam, but as of Sept. 1st, they are stopping adoptions between the US and VN. We have been told we will not get our little girl, and we are heartbroken. We are certain that God brought us on this journey.. way too many things fell into place for it not to be Him.. so we believe that He will give our daughter to us. In the meantime, I write about it on my blog as we experience the next steps in the journey... check it out!
hollybirdswords.blogspot.com

thanks for sharing!
holly

[Jenni Clayville]

Um... you pretty much rock. I have a bunch more questions - since you went through ShowHope (and that's what we're thinking about)... but I'll just email you when I get a "free-er" moment.

You inspire me.

[scott]

H-

You said "We have always wanted 4 children and we loved the idea of having our adopted child be right in the middle of our biological children."

Ummmm...

;)

[Roxanne Kristina]

Hey H,

I've never done the Mr. Linky thing before... hope I did so correctly. We are not in process of adopting, but have adopted. We have THE MOST AMAZING daughter born from our hearts. We kept a China journal while we were there approx 3 years ago. To view our journal, go to:

http://ourforeverfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/

Blessings,
Roxx
www.sharingnotes.blogspot.com

[Rhi]

man oh man. no WAY can i live thru those videos again. i barely survived it the first time. i felt like such a part of your family thru all of that. i was pregnant at the time too, so my mami emotions were all super heightened. i'm so proud of you guys for listening to God. you are truly inspiring. i've always dreamed of adopting. we'll see. i know now is not the time. God will let me know if he wants me to or not. i do thank you for allowing your sandals family to be a part of it all. seems like yesterday.

[iteachdeaf2]

Heather,
I love yours and Carlos' story of adopting Losiah. It is so heartwarming.

My husband and I have been actively in the adoption process for 2 1/2 years. First we were in international adoption, then several doors closed on us there. Now we are trying to adopt domestically.

Girl I have to say I am STRUGGLING with this. To be frank, I'm quite irritated that God is taking His sweet time with this adoption.

Why has He called my husband and I to adopt and then not matched us with anyone? I just don't understand. I know He is faithful and He has to be working somewhere, somehow...but seriously...SERIOUSLY now...almost three years and NOTHING? I'm so irritated.

Our homestudy has been finished, all licensing, everything is done and ready to go. We just need to be matched with a birthmother.

I see all these wonderful adoption stories but I have to wonder, when is this going to happen to ME? Sorry. I'm so depressed about the lack of movement in our adoption process. I need something, anything from God that HE is still in this and moving somewhere. I don't expect you to have any answers per se, I could just seriously use some uplifting because I am really struggling with anger and frustration on this issue.

My name is Tina. I'd LOVE some prayer from you and Carlos if you don't mind. :) Thanks for letting me vent. If I had a blog, I would have put it there....

[Carole Turner]

I have many post about our TWO adoption processes on my blog under the label "adoption" but I will sit down and blog about each tomorrow just for linky love :-) and for encouragement to anyone that is even slightly considering adopting. I so wish everyone would.

[Lisa in California]

Heather...I cried like a baby all the way through that video. What an amazing gift adoption is.

[Dena]

Loved reading your story and seeing the videos - wow! We've been home with our daughter for a year and a half now. (I was well over 30!)
Dena

[Amy]

I think its too late to post our story but its not complete anyway. We are waiting on our sweet LynnMarie. She may come home with special needs and we just cant wait for our referral.

Our adoption blog is
www.thechristopherfamily.blogspot.com

[Cori]

Hi, Heather.

I've been reading your blog and Carlos' blog for some time. In fact, I found your blogs a couple of months after you brought Losiah home as my husband and I were trying to decide what country to adopt from. I watched your videos and something about your experience touched my heart and we began to focus on Korea. We turned in our application in April 07 and were matched with our son in May of this year. I'm so grateful for your willingness to be open with your experience (and your continuing experiences) regarding adoption. I can honestly say your videos and blog posts were instumental in giving us the courage to plan to travel to Korea, instead of having our son escorted, something that I know will be a blessing for the rest of our lives. Our son's Visa papers have been in Korea for the last two weeks and our bags are packed and we are waiting to get the travel call and hop on a plane.

I just really wanted you to know that just by being you and sharing some of yourself, you have helped our family. Thanks, truly.